Out of office

I'm off the air for a few days whilst my laptop and I are being 'Appled'

Ordinary Days

(Darlinghurst Theatre Company)

The tiny performance space of the DTC is ideal for 'Ordinary Days', a ninety minutes long musical about four New Yorkers and their relationships. The musical has been created by Adam Gwon and is in the style of Stephen Sondheim. A pianist placed at the edge of the space provides the music and signals scene changes by placing simple objects on his piano, such as a mini Statue of Liberty and a Metropolitan Museum of the Arts shopping bag.

It is an entertaining production. The lyrics are witty and the music has that certain type of sound associated with Broadway musicals. If there is a negative I think it is that the four voices in this production are too similar. The musical sound becomes a bit repetitive after a while.

A Few Best Men

Australia Day seemed like a good day to see the latest Australian comedy - also released on that day - 'A Few Best Men'.

This is the latest in the crass style of comedy that seems to be popular nowadays or at least I assume they are popular otherwise I can't account for so many of them being made.

After a whirlwind Pacific Island romance a young Englishman, accompanied by his three best friends, travel to Australia for his wedding to an Australian bride. So little do they know of each other that he isn't aware until his arrival that his bride's family is wealthy with her father a prominent parliamentarian.

The wedding, which seems to be organised with almost unseemly haste, turns into a fiasco of drugs, sheep and general misadventure. It is a load of nonsense and not very witty nonsense at that but others in the audience enjoyed what was on offer and I have to admit that I had the occasional chuckle too.

Never Did Me Any Harm

(Sydney Theatre Company, Force Majeure and Sydney Festival)

This short production of only 65 minutes is an interesting affair. Seven performers act and engage in movement, a cross between mime and dance) to illustrate 'vox pops' of people discussing childhood. The theme is how 'we' were raised or how 'we' raised our children did us/them no harm. The inference is that child raising nowadays is off the tracks.

The setting is a stereotypical 1960s Australian backyard with a shed and a loose wood paling fence. Much of the dialogue is pre-recorded snippets of personal recollections with live dialogue at a minimum initially. Lengthier monologues delivered directly to the audience emerge later.

The entire piece is a collection of thoughts rather than a straight narrative.

The production has a fascinating lighting design. The program names Geoff Cobham and Chris Petridis as the Lighting and Assistant Lighting Designers respectively.

Body of work.....

Maybe I should spend less time working and more time at home watching morning television....

Baby is growing up

My new little bundle of joy is settling in nicely. She spent her first night out yesterday and frolicked in the rain for the first time and nearly was breath tested for the first time too as she tip-toed home at 11pm.

They grow up so quickly.

Swipe my pad

In an ironic piece of timing Andrew yesterday posted a piece about laptops in which he concluded that 'older people like to have a mouse'. Well, I would certainly qualify as an older person and it is true that for a long time now I have preferred using a mouse. About six years ago I trialled a Mac Book but quickly returned to a personal computer with mouse when I found the Mac Book's swipe pad uncomfortable to use and not to my liking.

In the years since I slowly found myself drawn into the 'religion' known as Apple. First it was an iPod, then an iPhone leading last Christmas to the purchase of an iPad. None of them was an essential purchase but each seduced me in turn thus enboldening me to the subsequent purchase. Given that I seem to be in a state of heat for impulse purchases at the moment I suppose it was inevitable that I would add this to the list...

Mac Book Pro

a Mac Book Pro which I purchased yesterday morning. Consistent with my long held preference for mouse controls I also purchased a wireless mouse. The religious theme came to the fore again as the enthusiastic young man with the North American twang who attended to my purchase waxed lyrical about drawing me into the 'family' with all manner of workshop opportunities.

Those who have purchased products from the Apple store know that you are passed on to another enthusiast who helps you set up your purchase ready for initial use. My wireless mouse was one of the first items set up but as I was led through other actions it dawned on me after a while that I was mostly swiping the pad rather than clicking the mouse. My conversion, subtle and subconscious, is almost complete.

That's why it's ironic that when I returned home with my purchase and as my first act looked up Andrew's blog I found his latest post to be about laptops and the swipe pad.